The candidates in the Student Association’s upcoming election had their chance to take on the opposition – assuming they had any.

The candidates squared off Tuesday night in the first and only public debate before the election next week, taking questions from the crowd of about 20 students and Jessica Cordova, a junior education major and Board of Elections and Membership Chairwoman, said SA President Andrew Thomson, a senior information management and political science major.

The candidates for comptroller, Maggie Misztal, assistant comptroller and a sophomore public relations, marketing and finance major, and Rosslyn Ortega, a sophomore marketing major, took the floor first, Thomson said. Each candidate had three minutes to introduce herself before answering questions.

Misztal said she focused on her accomplishments during her tenure as assistant comptroller, including the finance board’s student organization liaison system and the simplification of the student organization budget process. Ortega said she emphasized the need for increased communication between the comptroller and student organizations.

Misztal said her exchanges with Ortega were cordial, despite their differing opinions on a variety of issues.

‘She’s my opponent, so there’s always going to be differences there,’ she said.

Misztal said while Ortega stressed the need for the comptroller to form a relationship with student organizations by attending events, she would place more emphasis on the work that goes into preparing for the event.

‘You can’t promise every organization you can attend their event,’ Mistzal said. ‘It’s not physically possible.’

The presidential portion of the debate featured much less conflict, since the only candidate was Parliamentarian Drew Lederman, a sophomore international relations and history major.

During his question-and-answer session, Lederman said he was in favor of the proposal to upgrade Department of Public Safety officers to peace officer status. He said while some criticize the part of the proposal that would allow officers to carry guns, these critics fail to consider the fact that only some officers will carry weapons and that those officers will receive additional training.

‘They’re not like a mall security officer,’ he said. ‘They’re not going to go on a power trip or not know what to do.’

Lederman said one of the challenges he hopes to face in the SA’s 48th session is building a relationship with the new chancellor to make the administration hear students’ concerns.

Sam Eschenbrenner, a freshman political science major who attended the debate, said all the candidates presented themselves well. He said Misztal and Ortega especially bridged their differences well.

‘This is going to be a hard choice when I go to the polls,’ he said.

Published on October 28, 2003 at 12:00 pm